>In one word, yes. It's all a matter of sensibility.
As soon as you define "matter of sensibility" in a way that has universal acceptance *or* can stand as a basis for a legal decision in court, it will be meaningful.
Like pornography, just because "you know it when you see it", that doesn't make it a reasonable universal standard that can be applied to any given scenario.
>I guess you didn't hear about the Patriot Act or even lesser what happened when South Park showed Mohammad this year?
Adjusting to market conditions in order to maintain the monetary value of your "expression" is not really the same as being subjected to government censorship.
The producers of South Park made their own choices.
... also my point is that if you (the plaintiff) make a claim to the defendant that the law requires you to do something that it does not, it will severely weaken (i.e., destroy) your case if I am on your jury... Be careful what you say in those C&D letters, because if you lie or misrepresent, you will be called on it.
>However, allowing a mark to become totally generic in usage is considered abandonment.
Yes, and different courts will interpret precedents differently, and will consider some hard-to-nail-down factors about the specific trademark in question. (This gets into equal protection territory, in my opinion.)
"Cease and Desisting" isn't really anything but "giving notice", part of the "reasonableness" test. Too many people seem to think a C&D letter on its own has some legal power. I wish I had lists of those people, I'd be sending them letters all the time:-)
> - at least three characters different from your last 10 passwords
I have a problem with that. Enforcing that requires a system to store your last 10 passwords in cleartext.
> I know very few people who used that system who didn't have their password on a sticky note on their monitor.
A system that tries to be as secure as what you describe, should include men with guns taking away anyone who puts a password on their monitor.
(Where I work, Men With Guns is literally a major part of our security infrastructure, which also includes RSA keys, strong password requirements, and awareness of individuals -- you can be in real trouble for not noticing something you should have noticed.)
I hope there's a next generation of MMO that has the world building and avatar customization capabilities of Second Life, with the gameplay of World of Warcraft, both taken to the next level of evolution of course.
I didn't read the "probation period" as some kind of unpaid audition. Probation period to me means the person who hired you gets an exit clause so that letting you go is uncomplicated if you don't work out for them. (It can and does get very complicated otherwise.)
If I had multiple LTO-4 drives I'm sure I could use them. My system right now is to backup about a terabyte per day (within the compression), and the problem is that even with the best SAS drives I can get, I'm stuck with the amount of data that can be moved in 9 hours. More than that, and I can't have a verify pass. LTO-4 is the first format I've had the pleasure of using, where the media size wasn't horribly below the typical storage use case. "Hundreds of gigabytes" is starting to approach "reasonable critical daily backup space" except for audio/video media shops. There's really not much you can do for that situation, especially considering the typical budget.
>You see, 30 years ago, the clip around the ear worked more often than not
It's the occasional vision or hearing loss that did them in. There's not any good defense if someone wants to call it assault and battery. If there are witnesses, well, there are witnesses to the assault. If there are no witnesses, it's a tough spot explaining why you take children in private to beat them.
If you think there will be bad consequences if you do something on the street or in the grocery store to some random child, doing that same thing to a child in a school where you are a teacher should carry at least those consequences.
What do you think will happen if you go to the zoo or the mall, pick some child at random, and give him that "clip around the ear?" (Where I live, I could use lethal force to stop you.)
Still think teachers should be allowed to assault kids? A teacher who hit my kid would go to prison.
>Do the contract to hire jobs really not pay you in most cases?
I didn't say that! Actually the contract period typically pays more, and you usually take a hit when you go from contract to FTE.
I don't know where you got the idea that the contract (or probation) period was unpaid. On the contrary, 1099 status can be quite lucrative, especially if you don't have to (choose not to) buy insurance, or know how to benefit from doing your own tax withholding (e.g., instead of withholding, make a safe investment and profit to offset your taxes).
"We've all been forced(?) into consuming HFCS in just about everything from soft drinks to breads. "
I see the economics of this from the other direction, too, not just corn subsidies.
More valuable raw materials are being taken out for higher valued products. Make ketchup but don't use the most valuable parts of the tomato in it -- replace it with cheaper corn syrup and sell the tomato materials as higher-priced sauces, etc.
>Where the hell did you work with no benefits for 90 days?
There are a *lot* of people working on 1099 versus W-2 terms. Many people choose this route, for all kinds of reasons. Many jobs are offered only on those terms.
I've been able to hire contractors where a regular employee hire would have been absolutely impossible, often because the complications of adding a regular employee far outweigh paying a higher price to a contractor. This isn't uncommon at all in our industry.
>Probation period? Who signs on to a job like that?
Almost everybody at almost every level. Even when the opportunity has long-term prospects, the offer is usually on a contract basis where the employer defers the option to hire to a benefits-eligible position. This is pretty standard in programming jobs nowadays.
Slashdot Mirror
>In one word, yes. It's all a matter of sensibility.
As soon as you define "matter of sensibility" in a way that has universal acceptance *or* can stand as a basis for a legal decision in court, it will be meaningful.
Like pornography, just because "you know it when you see it", that doesn't make it a reasonable universal standard that can be applied to any given scenario.
>I guess you didn't hear about the Patriot Act or even lesser what happened when South Park showed Mohammad this year?
Adjusting to market conditions in order to maintain the monetary value of your "expression" is not really the same as being subjected to government censorship.
The producers of South Park made their own choices.
... also my point is that if you (the plaintiff) make a claim to the defendant that the law requires you to do something that it does not, it will severely weaken (i.e., destroy) your case if I am on your jury... Be careful what you say in those C&D letters, because if you lie or misrepresent, you will be called on it.
>However, allowing a mark to become totally generic in usage is considered abandonment.
Yes, and different courts will interpret precedents differently, and will consider some hard-to-nail-down factors about the specific trademark in question. (This gets into equal protection territory, in my opinion.)
"Cease and Desisting" isn't really anything but "giving notice", part of the "reasonableness" test. Too many people seem to think a C&D letter on its own has some legal power. I wish I had lists of those people, I'd be sending them letters all the time :-)
Big disappointment set in when I went to that page and didn't see a "Buy now" link.
> - at least three characters different from your last 10 passwords
I have a problem with that. Enforcing that requires a system to store your last 10 passwords in cleartext.
> I know very few people who used that system who didn't have their password on a sticky note on their monitor.
A system that tries to be as secure as what you describe, should include men with guns taking away anyone who puts a password on their monitor.
(Where I work, Men With Guns is literally a major part of our security infrastructure, which also includes RSA keys, strong password requirements, and awareness of individuals -- you can be in real trouble for not noticing something you should have noticed.)
>"Loose lips sink ships" was a common saying during World War II
And today we know *way* too much, in way too much detail, about the location and movement of troops, their morale, reports of their actions, etc.
"we are required to contact you by trademark law"
Widely believed, often represented, but can you cite the law that requires this?
>disproportionately high cost?
What's wrong with 'proportional cost'?
Whatever would cost a paying player $100, make it take 8-10 hours of grinding to get. Not 80-100 hours. Or worse.
I hope there's a next generation of MMO that has the world building and avatar customization capabilities of Second Life, with the gameplay of World of Warcraft, both taken to the next level of evolution of course.
I didn't read the "probation period" as some kind of unpaid audition. Probation period to me means the person who hired you gets an exit clause so that letting you go is uncomplicated if you don't work out for them. (It can and does get very complicated otherwise.)
If I had multiple LTO-4 drives I'm sure I could use them. My system right now is to backup about a terabyte per day (within the compression), and the problem is that even with the best SAS drives I can get, I'm stuck with the amount of data that can be moved in 9 hours. More than that, and I can't have a verify pass. LTO-4 is the first format I've had the pleasure of using, where the media size wasn't horribly below the typical storage use case. "Hundreds of gigabytes" is starting to approach "reasonable critical daily backup space" except for audio/video media shops. There's really not much you can do for that situation, especially considering the typical budget.
Certainly player assets are managed server-side. If not, can I hack myself into all Legendaries?
>These days where you need 4 tapes to backup a single drive no one appends.
These days with LTO-4, my biggest problem is having enough time to guarantee a daily backup.
>You see, 30 years ago, the clip around the ear worked more often than not
It's the occasional vision or hearing loss that did them in. There's not any good defense if someone wants to call it assault and battery. If there are witnesses, well, there are witnesses to the assault. If there are no witnesses, it's a tough spot explaining why you take children in private to beat them.
If you think there will be bad consequences if you do something on the street or in the grocery store to some random child, doing that same thing to a child in a school where you are a teacher should carry at least those consequences.
What do you think will happen if you go to the zoo or the mall, pick some child at random, and give him that "clip around the ear?" (Where I live, I could use lethal force to stop you.)
Still think teachers should be allowed to assault kids? A teacher who hit my kid would go to prison.
>Do the contract to hire jobs really not pay you in most cases?
I didn't say that! Actually the contract period typically pays more, and you usually take a hit when you go from contract to FTE.
I don't know where you got the idea that the contract (or probation) period was unpaid. On the contrary, 1099 status can be quite lucrative, especially if you don't have to (choose not to) buy insurance, or know how to benefit from doing your own tax withholding (e.g., instead of withholding, make a safe investment and profit to offset your taxes).
Who said anything about not getting paid?
>I have never seen a job like that.
You've never seen "contract to hire", looking for software jobs. Ok. It's still very common practice.
"We've all been forced(?) into consuming HFCS in just about everything from soft drinks to breads. "
I see the economics of this from the other direction, too, not just corn subsidies.
More valuable raw materials are being taken out for higher valued products. Make ketchup but don't use the most valuable parts of the tomato in it -- replace it with cheaper corn syrup and sell the tomato materials as higher-priced sauces, etc.
Greed is as responsible as subsidy.
You said the magic word, and made it a "safety" issue. Bravo.
>Your 2007 mustang is
>made from tinfoil and
>packing tape.
If by "tin foil" you mean "steel" and by "packing tape" you mean "carbon fiber", then yeah.
>Where the hell did you work with no benefits for 90 days?
There are a *lot* of people working on 1099 versus W-2 terms. Many people choose this route, for all kinds of reasons. Many jobs are offered only on those terms.
I've been able to hire contractors where a regular employee hire would have been absolutely impossible, often because the complications of adding a regular employee far outweigh paying a higher price to a contractor. This isn't uncommon at all in our industry.
>Probation period? Who signs on to a job like that?
Almost everybody at almost every level. Even when the opportunity has long-term prospects, the offer is usually on a contract basis where the employer defers the option to hire to a benefits-eligible position. This is pretty standard in programming jobs nowadays.
>Yes I often go to various companies I intend to work for. Offer them each to pay me in advanced for the chance I might choose to work
>for them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_racket
>The NBC affiliate here uses every opportunity to put infomercials on
There are people "here", dumb enough to be persuaded by infomercials.
I see a bigger problem than just "media companies."
>It was even more than that. Search engines didn't suck back in the day. Search engines *didn't exist* when Yahoo started.
We Archie users can argue.